1917.] Chapman, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia. 7 



feet, leaving their summits therefore,, so far as known, in the Tropical Zone. 

 The zoological exploration of these Sierras, is, however, greatly to be desired. 



We have done no collecting in the Eastern Andes north of Cundinamarca, 

 since the papers of Wyatt and Berlepsch indicate that this region has no 

 famial features which are peculiar to it; but we do feel the need of exact 

 data, particularly in regard to the distribution of forests, from the extreme 

 northern end of this range. 



In Antioquia we have felt compelled to duplicate to some extent the 

 work of Salmon, especially in the Tropical Zone, which, lying in the region 

 where Pacific coast and east Andean f aunal elements meet, occupies a posi- 

 tion of much importance. 



The Santa Marta group affords a closely related but independent 

 problem to the one we have attacked, and its solution may well be left in 

 the experienced hands of Mr. M. A. Carriker, Jr., whose six years' residence 

 in this region has given him exceptional opportunities for the continuous 

 study of its life. 



Even with the restrictions named, the territory to be examined is so 

 large, its topography so varied, its fauna so rich, and much of it is so com- 

 paratively inaccessible, that we have covered it only superficially. But 

 the resources at our command, and the extent of our ultimate plan, have 

 made it imperative that we should make only a reasonably thorough recon- 

 naissance of this part of the field, if we would hope to advance our study 

 of the major problems involved in other parts of South America. 



It was a constant source of regret to us that we were not accompanied 

 by a botanist who might have collected and identified at least the more 

 characteristic plants of each zone and fauna. I feel, however, that the 

 conclusions reached, based wholly on birds, have, in some respects, a greater 

 value than if they had been based on the combined study of birds and plants. 

 In their present form they constitute an independent contribution to zoogeo- 

 graphy, solely from the standpoint of ornithology. The final determination 

 of zonal, faunal and floral bouiidaries, will, in my opinion, be reached 

 by the combination of similar independent contributions from the botanist 

 and students of other branches of the animal kingdom. Meanwhile, 

 comparison of the results here presented with those given by Wolf (Geo- 

 grafia y Geologia del Ecuador; see beyond) based only on plants, shows 

 a most assuring agreement. 



In this connection I desire to state with emphasis that the maps and 

 , profiles accompanying this report are not assumed to possess more than 

 semi-diagrammatic accuracy. Colombian physiography is still too im- 

 perfectly recorded to supply a base map on which faunal data might be 

 entered. It is, indeed, so indefinitely diversified that our entire time in 

 Colombia might have been devoted to a single mountain range and still 



